Sunday, October 14, 2012

In Iran, Terrance Nelson on Indigenous and Women's Rights

Here in Tehran, it is very good weather. The Iranians are treating Dennis Pashe and myself very well. We are meeting with senior authorities and receiving information that we never had before.

The life expectancy of the average Iranian has increased significantly since the 1979 Revolution. It is now comparable to the west. The common theme of western media is the violations of human rights against Iranian women. I met with the health people in Iran and the fact is that 70% of the students in university in the health area are women. Seven out of every ten students are women. Imagine that. The Iranians are actively making women into doctors and leaders. Their women are not only allowed in University, the women are everywhere in government.

The world is jumping on the case of the Taliban shooting a young 14 year old girl because the girl led the way to demanding that females be allowed in schools. The west jumps on this, this young girl is a hero, but the west creating a hero for the cause of women in the world is questionable. We should be asking, who created the monster.

Who supplied the Taliban with weapons and installed them into power. Was is it not the west that supplied the Taliban with weapons in its war against the Soviets? Was it not the west that gave them power to suppress the women. Is Iran a perfect place for women? Is Canada? We can go into a bar room in Winnipeg and see naked women and men dancing. Is that freedom? Respect for women? Is it not government that licenses and profits from the sale of alcohol? How much does government receive for licensing nude dancing and how much is the profit for government on selling alcohol? No alcohol is allowed in Iran, drug dealers are dealt with immediately and severely. So, who is creating the monsters?

The Russians are incensed at the Turkish government for using fighter jets to intercept a passenger jet and forcing an inspection of its cargo. The charge? Supplying the government of Syria with weapons! So, if Russia does it, not that the Turks supplied the evidence, but say the Russians are supplying the Syrian government with weapons, who is supplying the weapons for the people opposing the Syrian government.

The question is, why is Russia not allowed to supply weapons into the Syrian conflict if the west is supplying weapons into that conflict. Saddam Hussein was given the same role. He was encouraged into war against Iran. He was promised good things. What is the Turkish government being promised by the west. A war between Syria and Turkey is another proxy war, the same type of war as the bloody eight year war between Iraq and Iran. Good move, we can watch on our televisions at home while the Turks and Syrians kill each other off. After they are both weak, we go in and get their oil. Smart, real smart.

Apparently, it is legal and right to supply people with weapons because they oppose what they consider an oppressive government. Does that mean that the indigenous people of Canada can be supplied with weapons? Of course not, Canada doesn't support the supplying of weapons to every group that opposes oppression governments and certainly, that has never our path as indigenous people in Canada. We never bombed anyone and we will always oppose such actions. Besides, we in the west want to watch people killing each other on television from the safety of our homes, we don't want that in our homelands, we want that in other countries.

In Iran, I see police officers with no guns. I would see more weaponry on police in France than I do here. In fact, I would see more weapons on police in Winnipeg than I do here. Is is perfect? No, no country is perfect but consider this, if in Winnipeg, we can't control the violence and gangs, how would we fare with a city of twenty million like Tehran.

The charge made by Steven Harper and his government that Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism is based on Iran supplying people with weapons, encouraging other people to violently oppose oppressive governments. United States supplied the weapons to the Taliban that shot down the Russian aircraft, at least that is what the movie says. So, are we state sponsors of terrorism? Are Russians not people, are Vietnamese not people? To ask these questions is a basic human right, the right to free speech. It is not only a right, it is a responsibility of a democratic society, that an individual can question.

The Taliban who shot the 14 year old girl say that she had no right to question, no right to her own individual thoughts. Do I have a right to ask questions. Does First Nations in Canada have a right to make up their own mind on foreign policy or do we automatically file in line with the immigrant governments who occupy our lands and suppress our indigenous governments.

I have met with various ministers in the Iranian government. As a technician working for several First Nations, my job is to identify, who will the Chiefs meet with when they come to Tehran, what will be the agenda, what issues will be discussed and what if any agreements will be signed? The results of this first trip are significant.

The Iranians are shocked by my information. Canada pays nothing to indigenous people for the sixty metals and minerals mined in Canada. The United States receiving 2.5 million barrels of oil a day from Canada but ignoring the human rights of the indigenous people of Canada. The devastation of the environment in the Tarsands. The charge I made that the United States government ignored the Chiefs who travelled to Washington when Obama was Inaugurated. The Obama administration did nothing to respect the fundamental human right to property, that they never once questioned the government of Canada on the human rights violations in Canada. So, Romney will approve the Transcanada pipeline in his first day on the job as president. Another President saying, the hell with human rights as long as we get their oil.

Six hundred murdered and missing women in Canada. Sixty to ninety-five percent unemployment for First Nations in Canada. Women not allowed to attend post-secondary school in Canada because of cuts to education funding. This would be acceptable if those indigenous women in Canada were treated the same as any other women in Canada.

The thing is that while Steven Harper is not pulling the trigger to kill a14 year old girl because she wants to go to school, the reality is that many indigenous children in Canada are denied the same level of education financing as their non native counterparts. If a female student is denied an equal education in Canada, does that not limit their options. If the females are in communities with 60 to 95% unemployment and the Indian Act denies them the right to banks and mortgages, the chances are that the 14 year old female will become a murdered and missing statistic. In Canada it is done much more quietly than the Taliban do it but the result is the same, six hundred murdered and missing indigenous women.

What is our statistic in Canada? Are seven of ten University students female?

2 comments:

Hello. I am a huge supporter of First Nation rights. So I really must offer my corrections on the many logical fallacies present in this article.

Whilst it is true that the US supplied the Taliban with weapons, blame MUST be given to Muslims & their Arab supremacist religion, which is indeed anti-women & anti-same-sex attracted, as well as many other things. Don't forget that Arab muslims enslaved africans longer than the Europeans.

And it's a common error to equate the number of women in schools with women's rights. Iranian women & many other muslim women are still are beaten, raped etc & considered beneath males regardless of how many degrees they have. So your observations don't really prove that muslim women are better off than non-muslim women.

Also, your comparison to the FREE behaviour in the West is invalid; regardless of how inappropriate some ppl may behave in non-muslim settings, the key issue is that THEY HAVE THEIR FREEDOM TO DO SO, & any illegal behaviour is dealt with in a humane manner, unlike in Iran. Banning alcohol isn't a sign of progress, btw.

You should also recall that Persians were once a free & progressive society BEFORE muslims invaded & changed their ways, quite similar to what Europeans did to First Nation ppls. You should also be aware that women face massive human rights violations in many muslim nations...over 90% Afghan women are illiterate, & many are child brides & mothers...in short, just because Whites say it, doesn't mean it's untrue. They jsut exploit it for their own Zionist agenda.

Finally, don't forget that muslims are causing many problems in other countries, such as massive rape sprees (they've been running paedophile gangs in the UK for decades now), assault, colonizing & spreading their sharia everywhere. This will eventually affect First Nation women, as they like to fool women into thinking Islam offers them a better alternative to life. For First Nation women to go from their proud heritage of equality that superceded European women's rights to the lowly status of muslim women would be quite tragic.

I think woman are a target of all religions. All male dominated societies. Just look around the planet. I'm of mixed heritage. First nations, Haitian, most likely various others. I see no difference in governments, no difference in religions. I see people killing for power and control in all the very same way. Woman and children are always the ones that suffer.Men should not be in charge. Genocide, will not stop until women stop allowing men to hold all the cards.I see no difference here. Other than the War pigs want another war. Woman don't let your men fight so old fat men can get more money.Tracey Lightheart Kennedy.

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